From an innocent dog being kicked to the look on Heleana’s (Phia Saban’s) face during that final scene, it’s fair to say that House of the Dragon Season 2, episode 1 had some pretty upsetting moments.
Well, guess what? One moments was actually even more upsetting than you initially realised!
Early on in the episode there’s a scene where Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) goes looking for the body of her son, Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), and his dragon Arrax, both killed by Vhagar, ridden by Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) in the Season 1 finale. She lands on a little beach near Storm’s End, scattering some local scavengers, and kneels by the remains of the pair, crying.
Soon, Rhaenyra’s own dragon, Syrax, comes and joins her. The dragon makes some sorrowful rumbling noises before howling at the sky in apparent pain. Initially we thought this was a roar of empathy — that the dragon was feeling the same pain as her rider — but it turns out it’s even worse than that.
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As @RON1NSenju pointed out in a now-viral post on X (formerly Twitter), Arrax is actually the offspring of Syrax.
Yep: As Rhaenyra was crying over her lost son, Syrax was also mourning her own.
Why do you do this to us, House of the Dragon?
House of the Dragon Season 2 airs Sundays on HBO and Max at 9 p.m. ET.
